Jeff Bridges discovered "the magic of life" when he came close to death

He told The Times newspaper's Saturday Review: "Well, it's interesting. The very things you are trying to avoid - cancer, death, whatever - are where the gold is.

"You become privy to stuff that you can only realise in that situation: how much you love and are loved, how willing you are to let go, understanding death, all those spiritual things we dabble with. When it really gets down to it ... Whoo! It's tasty...

"Only when you get to rub up against that s*** do you see the magic of life."

Despite his years od success, the 'Crazy Heart' actor admitted he still gets nervous about his work.

Asked if he still gets nervous, he laughed: "I still get it, man, big time!

"With my daughter Jessie I go out with a band called the Abiders and we'll sit in the wings before the concert and say, 'What are we doing? This is terrible!' You just have to laugh.

"I get a great opportunity like 'Crazy Heart' and it makes me even more nervous because I don't want to mess it up. At first I turned the role down. I wanted to keep it in the dream realm where it was safe. When you move it into reality, the dream can fail."

Jeff - who is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and actress and writer Dorothy Bridges - finally knew acting was for him when he realised it was "OK to be fearful" in his career when he appeared in 1973's 'The Iceman Cometh'.

He said: "Our parents were gung-ho about their kids being actors. But what kid doesn't want to rebel against their parents?.

"I was thinking I would go into the music thing because it looked a lot more appealing, and I only accepted my fate after making 'The Iceman Cometh' in 1973.

"It was a four-hour adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play and I was working with old masters like Fredric March and Lee Marvin. These guys were still full of angst about getting it right, after decades in the business, and that's when I realised: it's OK to be fearful. It was a big shift in my mind."